Difference between “ziemlich” & “ganz”

Question

I learned that ziemlich means "quite, rather" and ganz means "whole, entire." but I just encountered this tweet:

ganz leichter Schneefall. sehr dekorativ.

My dictionary agrees that ganz can also mean "quite." So now I'd like to know what differences, if any, there are in usage between ziemlich and ganz?

Answer 1

I think, there is a very little difference, when using ganz or ziemlich. Ganz is a little bit stronger than ziemlich, but there isn't much space in between meaning. Most time the difference is vague and indecisive. I think most people will use them spontaneously equally without seeing any difference, though they know/feel a difference (I refer to the subconscious).

Mir geht es ganz schlecht

This sentence means, that I am feeling very sick. I am not able to do anything and I just want to stay in bed.

Mir geht es ziemlich schlecht

I am in a weak constitution, not healthy. I am feeling sick, but I am able to do the most necessary work (I can go to the baker, though I wish someone else did)

Another example:

Du bist ein ganz starker Gegner

Your opponent is very strong and you need much endurance, concentration to beat him. You have to go a high pace, much deceptions, ...

Du bist ein ziemlich starker Gegner

Your opponent is very good but you are obviously better. It's not easy to beat him, you still have to fight, but you can allow yourself doing mistakes and forgive good chances without risking your win

Regarding your example (but I will turn to the opposite):

Es ist ganz (schön) starker Schneefall

First: The schön sounds better to me. I don't know if it just regional, but in this example I would never omit it. In this case it stress the expression, give it more meaning: very very much. But this just as a side note.

Now what I want to express saying this sentence. Let's imagine the situation that I am driving my car through a heavy snowfall. Then I mean: I don't see much. I've to drive very slowly and carefully. I have to concentrate very much on keeping the lane.

Es ist ziemlich starker Schneefall

Let's take the same situation. Now I give more expression on the fact, that it is disturbing, annoying. I still have to drive carefully, but I drive a lot faster, because it isn't that dangerous.

Both variation can also stress my astonishing how much snow falls.

Answer 2

While I do agree with Em1 that sometimes the difference between ziemlich and ganz is vague and indecisive, I'd like to discuss a few cases where there's quite some difference indeed. (Let me point out that we're only talking about the adverbs here, not ziemlich and ganz as adjectives.)

As you already mention in the question, ganz can mean very or entirely (think of ganz und gar), but it can also mean quite or rather. In your example sentence

ganz leichter Schneefall. sehr dekorativ.

ganz means very. You can't replace ganz with ziemlich here (see also my comment to Em1's answer). Other examples where ziemlich won't work at all:

Bleib' mal ganz locker.  —  Stay cool.
Komm' bitte ganz schnell.  —  Come quickly, please.

(I'm not sure if the ganz should be translated at all in these sentences; its meaning again is very.)

Examples where both ganz and ziemlich are possible

If you say that a dish tastes ziemlich lecker, then usually it tastes better than a dish tasting ganz lecker. The reason is that here the ziemlich reinforces lecker, while ganz weakens it. (I'm not sure if there's an analogous difference between rather tasty and quite tasty.) Other examples where usually ziemlich is used to reinforce and ganz is used to weaken (and where I would translate ganz as quite):

ziemlich gut / ganz gut,
ziemlich nett / ganz nett,
ziemlich interessant / ganz interessant.

But be careful, this depends a lot on the intonation - ziemlich can also be used to weaken an adjective. And I think Em1 is right that some people won't see the difference in these examples.

Answer 3

Ganz means "whole," or "complete." As such, it is sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker than ziemlich.

Ich bin ganz krank.: I am "entirely" sick. (Can't do anything.) Versus Ich bin ziemlich krank. (I'm rather sick, but can do some things for myself). Here, ganz is stronger than ziemlich.

Es ist ganz gut. It's "good" (all around, but nothing great). Versus Es ist ziemlich gut. (It is rather good, borders on great.) Here ganz is weaker than ziemlich.

Answer 4

The difference is that "ganz" is always 100% where "ziemlich" is something like 90%.

So the snow is 100% or completely "leicht"